Reported archaic CurrentC contract is holding back its member partners

The battle mobile payment systems Apple Pay and CurrentC, developed by the Merchant Customer Exchange group, has been heating up quite a bit over the last week or so, and the New York Times has just revealed why certain retailers are unwilling to support Apple's offering: they face hefty fines for supporting competing payment solutions.

The problem is that under the terms of their MCX contractual agreement, they are not supposed to accept competing mobile payments products like Apple Pay, according to multiple retailers involved with MCX, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. If these retailers break their contracts, they will face steep fines for doing so, these people said.

This shines a better light on why retailers like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walmart have said they cannot accept Apple Pay. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming months, and if retailers will eventually capitulate. Speaking further on the matter, the times reports:

"When these contracts were signed several years ago, no one knew about Apple Pay, or what mobile wallets were going to look like," Ms. Webster said. "It just didn't have the same sort of consumer froth around it."

Does this revalation change your view on the issue? Let us know in the comments.